Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a method of customizing an appliance, and more particularly, to allow entities other than appliance manufacturers to customize an appliance. The invention also relates to a method for management and restriction of the customization of an appliance.
Description of the Prior Art
The manufacture of information products such as computers and appliances has largely adopted OEM/ODM business models. Under OEM/ODM business models, the manufacturer and the vendor (brand owner) are different entities. When the OEM/ODM manufacturer finishes manufacturing the product, the product generally has to be customized for the vendor, such as adding brand identifications of the vendor on the exterior of the product or the user interface. In addition, customization further includes modifying, adding, or even removing specific functions or devices of the product according to requirements of the vendor.
It is evident that such customization processes are not only time-consuming but also costly. For many small-entity vendors, the amount of products ordered from the OEM/ODM manufacturer is small, and such small-entity vendors have to pay higher costs for customization due to the lack of economic scale. Therefore, although the OEM/ODM business models are very common, they still cannot be adopted by small-entity vendors.
For the details of such technical issues and the solutions in prior art, US Pub. 2011/0265078, US Pub. US 2013/0007428, and US Pub. 2014/0156812 may be referred to.